Apps

PayPal debuts a new rewards program that combines Honey’s discounts with other ways to earn • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 17, 2022Posted in Apps, discounts, e-commerce, Fintech, PayPal, rewards, shoppingNo Comments

PayPal is taking a step away from the Honey brand, the $4 billion shopping rewards acquisition it made in 2019, with today’s launch of PayPal Rewards. The new program will replace “Honey Gold” — the rewards program for Honey browser extension users, which allows customers to redeem their points for cash, gift cards or PayPal shopping credits. With the new PayPal Rewards, consumers will be able to track and redeem their points directly inside the PayPal app, and will have new ways to earn, the company says. The deal for Honey was intended to give PayPal a better position in the face of the increased competition in the payments space from larger rivals, including Appl, Google and even Facebook (now Meta). The battle for consumer adoption of online and mobile payments had shifted away from the checkout page itself, to compete against all the other places people go to discover, browse, get inspired and deal-hunt — including on retailers’ sites and on social platforms, like Instagram, Pinterest, and today, TikTok. A rewards program, like the one offered by Honey, works to entice users by offering promo codes and coupons for favorite retailers, while redirecting them away from Amazon with better prices. Features like the price tracking “droplist” also help consumers find the best deals on items they’re considering. And, with last year’s revamp of the PayPal app, personalized deals and rewards became a larger part of the mobile experience as well. This year, PayPal customers have saved nearly $200 million through the Honey cash back and discounts program, says PayPal. With the launch of PayPal Rewards, the company is now combining the rewards being offered to PayPal customers across multiple PayPal products, including the Honey browser extension, the PayPal app, and, in the future, various card products. Rewards will also be given its own dedicated spot in a new part of the PayPal app, where shoppers can track and redeem their points as they earn. When customers want to redeem their points, there won’t be category restrictions or account minimums, the company notes, and the points can be converted to cashback at a rate of 100 points equaling $1 USD. Once redeemed as cash, the funds can be transferred to a linked bank account, deposited into a PayPal Savings account, donated to a charity, or sent to someone else as a peer-to-peer (p2p) payment. With the new in-app hub, customers will also be able to earn points through personalized engagement in the PayPal app, in addition to the browser extension, and will be able to be stacked with the rewards earned from their payment card programs. This personalized engagement introduces a new way for a customer to earn PayPal Reward points by doing things like linking a debit card or bank account to their PayPal, for example. If the customer has already done so, they might be presented with a different action to take. Image Credits: PayPal The company is touting the move ahead of the 2022 holidays and traditionally, the biggest quarter for online shopping. This year, however, the e-commerce landscape is looking a little different, with more spending expected to start earlier thanks in part to Amazon’s decision to host a second Prime Day event in October, leading other retailers to follow suit. Still, Adobe predicts consumer spending will still increase this year by 2.5% during the Nov. 1-Dec. 31 time frame, reaching $209.7 billion. “With the financial challenges people face these days, brought on by rising prices and the need to tighten budgets, it can be frustrating to shop for everyday essentials or plan for the holidays,” said Greg Lisiewski, Vice President of Shopping and Global Pay Later, in a statement about the launch. “PayPal Rewards makes it easy to find sales, discounts, and great deals when making a purchase with PayPal – through cash back, discount codes, or other rewards,” he said. Image Credits: PayPal

Shares of Korean internet giant Kakao slide after fire disrupts service • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 17, 2022Posted in Apps, Asia, Government & Policy, Kakao, Naver, south koreaNo Comments

The stock price of South Korea’s internet giant Kakao tumbled on Monday after a fire at a data center that cut off power on Saturday, causing several service malfunctions. The blaze at the SK C&C data center, which houses the servers of Korea’s two largest internet companies — Kakao and Naver — disrupted Kakao’s messaging, ride-hailing, payment and game apps, and Naver’s internet search and news services, over the weekend. Some disruption is ongoing — mainly affecting Kakao’s services. On Monday morning, Kakao’s share price dropped more than 9%. Its peer Naver also slid 2% at the opening of trading before recovering. At the time of writing, Kakao said it had restored KakaoTalk, the country’s dominant messaging app — with more than 46 million monthly active users in South Korea as of September 2022 and 53 million globally. On Monday afternoon it also said it had completed recovering its financial services. But some other services are still down. Meanwhile, Naver, which faced partial disruptions as a result of the fire on Saturday, quickly restored most of its operations on Sunday. According to a report by Bernstein, Kakao’s slow recovery process was caused by the company’s lack of owned server infrastructure and “high dependence” on the SK C&C data center. It also highlights Kakao’s lack of a well distributed backup system. The report pointed out that Naver was able to resume its primary services promptly because it has owned server infrastructure and a well-designed backup process. KakaoTalk remains the dominant messaging service in South Korea and the Bernstein report predicts it will maintain its position despite the outage, given how far behind its rivals are in marketshare terms. Additionally, it points out that Kakao’s messaging app is linked to other services such as Kakao bank, payment and ride-hailing services, so users are unlikely to replace the app with less fully featured alternatives like WhatsApp or Telegram, per the report. The second largest messaging app after Kakao in South Korea is FaceBook Messenger but it has only 3.9 million MAU as of September 2022. While Naver’s messenger app, Line, has about 1.6 million monthly active users. In its statement on Saturday night, Kakao said the fire broke out at around 3:30 PM (local time). It added that it is investigating the matter. A statement by Naver on Saturday afternoon said it is aware of issues impacting its services as a result of the fire. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol also made public comments on Monday following the incident — remarking that a private company operates KakaoTalk but describing it as practically a national communications infrastructure. Yoon called on the government to investigate the exact causes of the fire. “I respect corporate autonomy and creativity, but that is based on the premise that the market reasonably allocates resources and income in a system of fair competition,” Yoon said. “If a monopoly situation causes market manipulation, the government should take systemic action.”

Play Store revamp, Google antitrust suit updates, BeReal’s real traction • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 15, 2022Posted in app stores, Apple, Apps, Google, Mobile, mobile apps, This Week In AppsNo Comments

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly ZebethMedia series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. Global app spending reached $65 billion in the first half of 2022, up only slightly from the $64.4 billion during the same period in 2021, as hypergrowth fueled by the pandemic has slowed down. But overall, the app economy is continuing to grow, having produced a record number of downloads and consumer spending across both the iOS and Google Play stores combined in 2021, according to the latest year-end reports. Global spending across iOS and Google Play last year was $133 billion, and consumers downloaded 143.6 billion apps. This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and much more. Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters. Epic Games and Match attempt to expand their antitrust lawsuits against Google Image Credits: Alex Tai/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images Epic Games and Match Group are looking to fortify their antitrust lawsuits against Google by adding new counts to their initial complaint, filed last year, which illustrate the lengths Google supposedly went to in order to dominate the Android app market. The companies, a week ago, filed a motion to amend their complaints in their cases against Google, which now allege that Google paid off business rivals not to start other app stores that would put them in competition with Google Play. This would be a direct violation of U.S. antitrust law known as the Sherman Act, the amended complaint states. Epic Games and Match Group had originally detailed Google’s plans in a filing last year, where they detailed a Google program known as “Project Hug,” or later, the “Apps and Games Velocity Program.” This effort was focused on paying game developers hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to keep their games on the Google Play Store, it had said. Now, Epic Games and Match Group are looking to add to their complaint with two new allegations specifying how Google had either paid or otherwise induced its potential competitors to agree to not distribute apps on Android in competition with the Play Store, including through their own competing app stores. Google, it reads, had identified developers who were “most at risk … of attrition from Play” and then approached them with an offer of an agreement. The complaint now deems this a “per se” violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits “every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations,” it says. (You can read the full story here on ZebethMedia.) Google Play revamp continues Image Credits: Google Google announced this week new features for its Play Store that are designed to put more of developers’ store listing assets “front and center.” The company says that on large-screened devices, like tablets, foldables and Chromebooks, the Play Store redesign will make better use of app screenshots, videos and descriptions directly in the Apps and Games Home. This will help Android users when they’re browsing for new apps and games to install, Google says. It’s also adding the ability for developers to upload Chromebook-specific screenshots in the Play Console, to better portray the Chromebook experience. Developers can upload up to eight screenshots, in the recommended 16:9 screenshots for landscape, with dimensions of 1080-7690px. Google is updating its quality guidelines for tablets for consistency across large screens, as well, but notes that previous uploads won’t be impacted by the changes. Google additionally published a set of content quality guidelines to help developers learn best practices about how to showcase apps on large screens. The changes announced this week follow an earlier revamp of the Play Store that offered users the ability to filter search results by device, making it easier for them to discover and download apps for non-phone devices like smartwatches, TVs and cars, including through remote installs. The feature was timely, given Google’s recent debut of its first Pixel-branded smartwatch this month. BeReal’s real traction Gen Z social media app BeReal encourages its users to take a photo every day — a format designed to create a daily habit. But only a small number of the app’s users are currently doing so, new estimates from a third-party app intelligence firm indicate. According to research from Sensor Tower, BeReal is demonstrating significant traction across some metrics — it topped 53 million worldwide installs across the App Store and Google Play and has seen its monthly active users jump by 2,254% since January 2022, for example. But only 9% of its active Android installs are opening the app every day as of the third quarter of this year, the firm found. Active users are a better indication of an app’s adoption than downloads, as many people will install an app out of curiosity to check it out, but then abandon the app if they don’t end up enjoying the experience. On this front, BeReal is still trailing established social media giants, Sensor Tower says. Today, 9% of BeReal’s active installs on Android (users who downloaded the app and are actively using it) are now launching the app daily. That’s far behind Instagram and TikTok. Instagram leads this category with 39% of its active installs opening the app every day, while TikTok comes in second with 29%. This is followed by Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter at 27%, 26%, 20% and 18%, respectively. Image Credits: Sensor Tower Of course, BeReal proponents point out that the app’s Android adoption is not at the same pace as iOS, as we said in our initial report. With many of its new installs being from young people in the U.S. — where iOS is preferred — this figure may not present a full picture of the app’s current usage.

An Apple Store in Oklahoma City votes to unionize • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 15, 2022Posted in Apple, Apps, labor, unionizationNo Comments

A majority of retail workers at the Apple Store at Penn Square in Oklahoma City have voted to unionize. The second Apple Store to win union representation in the U.S., the workers voted 56-32 in favor of forming a union, and will be represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Per National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rules, Apple has five business days to file an objection to the election. If not, the company must now recognize the union and take part in the collective bargaining process, which allows the workers to negotiate their contracts. Before the union election, the CWA filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, accusing Apple of illegally surveilling, threatening and questioning workers at the Oklahoma City store. The complaint is currently under investigation. “Like Starbucks, Amazon, and other corporations, Apple execs have spent months violating labor law and intimidating their workforce. Workers are seeing these tactics for what they are — desperate attempts to prevent them from having a real say in their working conditions. Money is no match for workers who are ready to claim their power,” said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens in an emailed statement. “Apple workers are determined to organize for better wages and dignity on the job. Despite Apple’s illegal and aggressive anti-union campaign, Apple retail workers across the country will continue to organize, especially after this momentous victory. The Penn Square Apple retail workers are an amazing addition to our growing labor movement, and we are thrilled to welcome them as CWA members.” In a statement to the New York Times, an Apple spokesperson said: “We believe the open, direct and collaborative relationship we have with our valued team members is the best way to provide an excellent experience for our customers, and for our teams.” In June, an Apple Store in Towson, Maryland became the first of the tech giant’s U.S. retail locations to win union recognition. Leading up to that vote, the trillion-dollar company’s vice president of people and retail Deirdre O’Brien sent a video to 58,000 retail staff warning them about the perceived drawbacks of unionizing. O’Brien reiterated anti-union talking points, stating that it would be more difficult to enact change in stores with a union standing between Apple and employees — but some workers don’t think that meaningful change is possible without having a formally recognized bargaining unit. Now, as Apple rolls out more educational perks to its retail workers, the company says that the unionized store in Maryland will have to negotiate for the benefits. This same withholding of benefits has occurred at unionizing Starbucks locations, who employ the same anti-union law firm as Apple, Littler Mendelson. In the case of Starbucks, the NLRB found merit in the complaint that this behavior was a violation of U.S. labor law. The video game company Activision Blizzard also attempted to withhold raises from employees who were in the midst of unionizing, arguing that the company was following labor laws that prohibit employers from changing compensation in the midst of elections. But in that case, the NLRB also found merit in the union’s complaint.

Twitter is developing a way for users to control who can mention them • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 14, 2022Posted in Apps, Social, social media, TwitterNo Comments

Twitter is developing a feature that has the potential to curb harassment and bullying on the social network. App engineer Jane Manchun Wong discovered that the company is developing a way for users to control who can mention them on Twitter. According to a screenshot posted by Wong, the new controls would give users the option to limit mentions to people they follow or turn off mentions altogether. Of course, you would still have the option to allow anyone to mention you, which is how Twitter currently operates. Giving users the option to turn off mentions altogether would be a dramatic shift for the company, but it would also give users a way to protect themselves from all sorts of bullying and harassment they face on the platform. Although users who are targeted by trolls currently have the option to block or mute users, individually blocking abusive accounts or muting specific tweets does not scale in instances when there may be hundreds of accounts involved in the targeted abuse. As with any other test feature, it’s unknown when or if Twitter plans to roll out the new controls officially. When asked about the possible upcoming change, a spokesperson from Twitter told ZebethMedia that the company doesn’t have anything to share at the moment. It’s worth noting that Twitter privacy designer Dominic Camozzi confirmed the new controls were in the works in a now-deleted tweet, as noted by The Verge, and had asked users for feedback. If Twitter decides to roll out the feature, it would join the social network’s current audience management features. Two years ago, Twitter gave all users the option to limit replies to their tweets. The feature lets you limit replies to people you follow or the people you mentioned in the tweet. With this feature, trolls can still unfortunately Quote Tweet another user’s tweet as a way to send abuse. The new controls uncovered by Wong would likely get rid of this workaround and protect users from incessant trolls. Twitter also rolled out its “Unmentioning” feature to all users earlier this year. The feature allows users to remove their name from another user’s tweet so they’re no longer tagged in it and any ongoing chatter around it won’t keep appearing in their mentions feed. The new controls would take this option even further by preventing your handle from being mentioned in the first place. The new controls would be a welcome addition to the platform and it’s nice to know that Twitter is looking at ways to help users protect themselves from abuse beyond the existing anti-abuse features. Coordinated trolling attacks have been an unwanted part of Twitter’s platform and the company has frequently been criticized for not doing enough to prevent harassment and abuse. Although public figures may be more likely to face higher levels of harassment than other types of users, it’s a problem that isn’t limited to users with a public profile, especially when racist abuse remains a problem on Twitter. The new controls would be a step toward protecting users online from all sorts of abuse and trolling.

Google is updating its ‘Ad’ tag to ‘Sponsored’ for mobile search • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 14, 2022Posted in Apps, dark patterns, Google, Google Ads, google searchNo Comments

Over the years, Google has made it harder to separate ads from organic search results at a glance. In its current iteration, when users perform a search, the only distinction between the two is “Ad” written in bold — and it’s easy to miss. The search giant is making a small change to that today by replacing the “Ad” label with the “Sponsored” label in bold next to the advertisements appearing in search results. The company is also moving the label above the site URL in a separate line, instead of showing it next to the URL. Currently, Google is slowly rolling out this update across mobile and said it will start testing these changes on the desktop without specifying a date. Old ad format Image Credits: ZebethMedia New ad format with the ‘Sponsored’ tag Image Credits: ZebethMedia “This new label and its prominent position continues to meet our high standards for being distinguishable from search results and builds on our existing efforts to make information about paid content clear,” Google said in a statement. But these changes still might not be enough for users to clearly separate ads and organic search results. If you’re reading this story and looking at the changes side-by-side, you would notice a difference between “Ad” and “Sponsered.” But in daily usage when you’re scrolling through thousands of search results, you may not have these modifications in mind. Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Product Liaison, has tweeted the visual history of the company’s ad labeling many times over the years. While the tweet below captures changes only till 2019, it’s easy to see how Google has slowly blurred the lines between ads and search results. When Google rolled out the new bold “Ad” label in 2020, many folks pointed out dark patterns in this design change that made users squint to separate out paid content. But it took the company two years to make any kind of change. The ad business is the main money maker for Google: the company earned $56.3 billion in ad revenue in Q2 2022. So it’s important for the search giant to keep churning out money from that funnel in different ways. Given the position Google holds in the ads space many watchdogs are looking to probe the company’s ads business through an antitrust lens. Including website names Along with changing the ad labels, Google will also display site names in search results. Until now, you could only see URLs in the search results making it confusing to identify some sites. Plus, it is making website favicons more prominent so users can easily recognize familiar site logos. The company said it will also extend these changes to ads to increase transparency for users. Image Credits: Google

Instagram expands AI-powered age verification program to India and Brazil • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 14, 2022Posted in age verification, Apps, brazil, india, InstagramNo Comments

Instagram, facing scrutiny from safety advocates, started testing a program in the U.S. earlier this year to verify users’ age claiming to be 18 or older. It uses techniques including authentication via running video selfies through an artificial intelligence system. The Meta-owned service is now ready to roll out this program to two key overseas markets: India and Brazil. These countries together have about 400 million monthly active users on Instagram, according to market intelligence platform Sensor Tower, data of which an industry executive shared with ZebethMedia. The social network said in an updated blog post that it plans to roll out this age verification program to the UK and EU before the end of the year. The program allows users to upload a video of themselves, which Instagram runs through an AI system to determine whether they are indeed aged 18 or older. For this option, Instagram has partnered with the UK-based identity startup Yoti. Once users complete taking a video selfie by following the on-screen instructions, Meta shares that with Yoti for verification through its specially trained AI. Both companies say they delete the data afterward. Image Credits: Instagram Users can also verify their age by providing an ID. Instagram has a list of documents it accepts for verification. The social giant also said it is removing Social Vouching as an option to verify age. Social Vouching, one of the experimental ways Instagram verified the age as part of the new program, allowed a user to request their mutual followers, who are aged 18 or above, to vouch for the age. While it didn’t expand on the reason, it is likely that some users were gaming the system by asking their mutual followers aged 18 or above to lie for them. The rollout comes at a time when safety advocates are lambasting Instagram for letting kids under 13 use the platform and not doing enough to stop teens from potentially seeing harmful content. On its part, last year Instagram made it mandatory for everyone to enter their birthdates, but it’s hard to rely only on that factor as users can easily provide false information. Notably, Twitter is rolling out a feature that asks users to enter their birthdates to see sensitive content. Instagram says it uses age data to restrict certain experiences for teens: it makes accounts of users under 16 private by default, blocks DMs from unknown adults and stops advertisers to serve targeted ads based on teens’ interests and activities. Lawmakers across the world are also looking at introducing rules that force platforms to have effective age checks in place. The UK’s Online Safety Bill and the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act look to restrict content that users aged under 18 can access. Their scrutiny was partially prompted after a whistleblower testified last year to reveal that Facebook had prioritized profit over the well-being of users, especially teens.

Twitter’s making it easier for professional account users to link to their content and services • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in Apps, Social, Twitter, twitter for professionalsNo Comments

Twitter is launching a new ‘Link Spotlight’ feature that lets professional account users add an interactive button to their profiles that links to a specific URL. The social network says the purpose of the Link Spotlight button is to give businesses and professionals a way to drive potential customers to their content, services or products. With this new button, you can refer users to take a look at your menu, listen to your podcast, make a reservation and more. The Link Spotlight feature is currently available to professional account users in the United States. Professional account users can choose to add buttons that say “Listen now,” “See live,””Watch now,” “Stream live,” “Read now,” “View menu,” “Book an appointment” and “Make a reservation.” Once you select a button, you’ll be able to enter a destination URL. The interactive button will then be displayed above your tweet timeline on your profile. 👋 Link Spotlight is now available to all professionals in the U.S. This new spotlight adds an interactive button to your profile that can drive your customers to whatever touchpoint is most important to you – viewing a menu, listening to your podcast, making a reservation, etc. pic.twitter.com/HGJdJcFceZ — Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) October 12, 2022 The button options are designed to give creators a more direct way to promote their content, while also giving businesses a way to attract and bring in more customers. The social network says the list of options is currently limited as it tests the new feature, noting that it may consider expanding the list in response to feedback. It’s worth noting that only URLs from Twitter’s allowlist of domains can be added to Link Spotlight. There are 34 domains in this list, including Spotify, Twitch, Grubhub, ChowNow, Vimeo, Etsy, Github, Kickstarter, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Ticketmaster, Soundcloud, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, Substack and more. The full list can be found on Twitter’s Link Spotlight FAQ page. It’s not surprising that Twitter has an allowlist, since it probably doesn’t want to end up linking users to spam websites. Prior to the addition of the Link Spotlight feature, professional accounts have had the option to add a website link in their profiles, but you aren’t able to categorize the link. The addition of Link Spotlights gives professional accounts the option to link to more content or services in a clearer and more direct way. The launch of the new feature comes a few months after Twitter expanded its Location Spotlight feature to all businesses with professional accounts to allow them to display their location address, hours of operation and additional contact information on their profiles. Twitter first introduced Professional profiles last year and it made the option available to all users earlier this year in March. A professional account, which Twitter refers to as “Twitter for Professionals,” gives brands and creators access to additional tools to distinguish their profile. Twitter classifies anyone who uses Twitter for work as a professional.

Zen Educate, a marketplace that matches schools with teachers, raises $21M to fuel U.S. expansion • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 13, 2022Posted in Apps, Startups, Teacher recruitment, Zen EducateNo Comments

Zen Educate, an online marketplace that algorithmically matches schools with the best available teachers, has raised £19.3 million ($21 million) in a Series A extension round of funding. Founded out of London in 2017, Zen Educate is setting out to supplant the traditional approach to recruiting teachers, a system that typically involves third-party agencies and hefty fees. On top of that, working with agencies often entails analogue workflows, with paper-based timesheets and phone calls the order of the day. “Those agencies are incredibly expensive — the average U.K. education recruiter has a 30 to 35% margin,” Zen Educate cofounder and CEO Slava Kremerman explained to ZebethMedia. By cutting out these pricey intermediaries, Zen Educate promises to reduce many of the costs and administrative friction involved in hiring supply teachers, as well as full-time teachers and teaching assistants, through a self-serve platform that allows teachers and schools to manage their own profiles. However, it’s not a complete free-for-all, as the company says it uses its own proprietary technology to conduct “extensive checks” on teachers during the sign-up process. Zen Educate platform Image Credits: Zen Educate The main benefits Zen Educate touts is that it serves as a natural filter that algorithmically surfaces the most suitable teachers based on a range of criteria. “Rather than just seeing a universe of teachers and then randomly ‘guessing’ which ones to offer a role to, schools can see a curated list created by a match algorithm that factors in availability, skillset, proximity, the type of role, and previous feedback as well as numerous other factors,” Kremerman said. Schools can also create “favorite” lists of the most suitable teachers, so they can pool the best-performing substitutes based on previous experience, and easily rebook them when the situation requires it. Zen Educate platform Image Credits: Zen Educate Show me the money Kremerman said that his company has crunched the U.K. government’s own reported school financing data, and established that schools spend around £2 billion ($2.2 billion) annually on temporary staff, of which £600 million ($662 million) can be attributed to agency fees. And it’s these fees that Zen Educate wants to reduce — but not quite eliminate. Indeed, Kremerman says that his company charges a smaller markup, around 15-18%, on each hour or day that’s booked through its platform. And it claims to have already saved the U.K. education sector £10 million ($11 million) on “wasted recruitment agency fees.” “There’s a spread between what the teacher gets paid and what Zen Educate charges the school — the school saves money, and the teacher earns more,” he said. Zen Educate cofounders: Slava Kremerman (CEO) with Oren Cohen (chief customer officer) Image Credits: Zen Educate So far, Zen Educate has largely served schools in the U.K. cities of London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and Leeds, though it actually soft-launched in the U.S. back in March starting in Minneapolis, where Kremerman says it’s currently powering around 7,000 hours of teaching cover per month. And with another chunk of change in the bank, it’s now well-financed to expand further into the U.S. market starting with Houston, Texas, later this month. While there have been some technology-focused attempts to counter the existing agency-based order in the U.K., nothing of note has gained any meaningful traction. And in the U.S., there are major players such as human capital management platform Frontline Education, which is currently in the process of changing ownership between two private equity firms as part of a $3.7 billion transaction. Elsewhere, Swing Education is doing something a little similar to Zen Educate, though with a specific focus on substitute teachers only. Whatever competition that does exist out there, with an estimated 1.2 million substitute teachers in the U.S. alone, there is more than enough room to accommodate several tech-infused marketplaces that bring teacher and school matchmaking into the 21st century. “The best metaphor is to imagine if you used Uber, and it just showed you a list of all taxis in London — but didn’t tell you whether they still worked, whether they were available, where they were, or what type of car it is,” Kremerman said. “That’s how supply teaching happens now.” Zen Educate had previously raised around £9.4 million ($10.4 million) in funding across several rounds since its inception, the most recent being a £6.8 million ($7.5 million ) Series A round spread between 2019 and 2020. Now, the company is adding a further £19.3 million to the pot, taking its total funding to £28.7 million, with backers including edtech-focused VC firm Brighteye Ventures, Adjuvo, Ascension Ventures, and a slew of angel investors. In addition to market expansion, Kremerman said the fresh cash injection will be used to double its headcount to 200 in the next six months, as well as acquire some incumbents in the market.

Apple brings more of its services, including iCloud and Apple Music, to Microsoft platforms • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 12, 2022Posted in Apple, apple music, apple tv, Apps, Media & Entertainment, Microsoft, windows 11, xboxNo Comments

During a Surface-focused event this morning, Microsoft announced that it’s integrating Apple’s iCloud storage service with the Photos app in Windows 11. After installing the iCloud for Windows app from the Microsoft Store and choosing to sync iCloud, iPhone users with Windows devices will be able to see their iPhone photos and videos within Photos. Windows users participating in Microsoft’s Windows Insiders program can get the latest iCloud for Windows app, which enables the integration, starting today. “For the last few years, Windows customers who have Android phones have experienced that promise with integration across messaging, calling and photos directly to their Windows PC, bringing the two most important devices in their lives closer together,” CNET quoted Microsoft as saying. “We’re making it easier than ever for customers to access their iPhone photos and the entertainment they love from Apple on their Xbox and Windows devices.” An early look at iCloud integration in Windows 11. In a related development, Apple announced that it’s bringing first-party streaming services including Apple Music and Apple TV for more Microsoft platforms. Apple Music will come to Xbox consoles starting today, and Apple Music and the Apple TV app will launch on Windows sometime next year. The new Apple service tie-ins on Windows and Xbox follow the launch of Apple TV on Xbox consoles nearly two years ago. It’s been a long time coming, but hybrid Windows-iOS households will no doubt appreciate the tighter integration.